Ass 211 - Task 2a - Presenting photo images

Ass 211 - Task 2b - Presenting photo images

Automate options (fig.1)

Once I had download all of that days photographic shots in to a new folder on the computers desk-top, I opened up the Photoshop software to create a new set of contact sheets.

By clicking on File in the main menu heading bar, a pull down window opens, scrolling down the various choices to Automate, a sub-window opens with additional options, by selecting the Contact Sheet II a new independent window is opened (fig.1). This is where you can make bespoke choices for your contact sheet - page size, resolution, number of images per page and so on, once you are happy with your choice of set-up, you click ok and the software starts to process the images in to contact sheet pages, these pages are then saved or printed off ready for the selection process to begin. Once all of the contact sheets were printed I was able to start the selection process, what I was hoping to show in my final selection was an overview of a great day out.

marked-up contact sheets

The next part of the process was to reduce the days shots down to just 40 in total, once this had been done I produced a new set of contact sheets which were also printed off, with these new sheets I could look at how each individual images might be cropped and also work together as part of the final gallery.

Because I would be presenting the final images together in a printed portfolio, I had decided to present the images in a rectangular landscape format - one size to fill all, this decision would also have a bearing on my selection of images, some picture would work better in this format than others.

Once the final ten images had been selected they were processed within Photoshop, this is where I made slight adjustments to the image contrast and colour balance, once this had been done each individual image was worked on further, first I duplicated the image layer then I applied an unsharp filter mask to the new image layer, depending on the image and how the filter looked the top layers opacity is reduced, this reduction is individual to each separate image, the two layers are then merged, with the image layer still unlocked I resized the canvas to 250mm(w) X 210mm(h) at 240dpi, the image was then positioned, reduced or a combination of both to fit the canvas area giving the best composition for each individual shot, once I was happy with result the image was then cropped to size so that it fitted the canvas area exactly.

Note: Another way in which this process could have been undertaken was to use Layer Masks to crop the image, the benefit of this procedure is that the original image would still remain intact (full size), this option allows you to move the image within the mask area giving more flexibility if you thought that you might need to reposition the image at a later date. This layered option would be saved as a .psd file. This file can be used to produce alternative images and a good working method that allows you to return to the master file at a later date.

fig.3

 The canvas size was then increased to 270mm (w) X 230mm (h), by using the Magic Wand Tool (fig.3) I could make a selection of the empty area around the image, I then created a new layer and applied a black stroke to the selection (fig.4), a second layer was then created and a grey fill was applied to this layer this would be seen as a wide grey image border.

fig.4

Once I had carried out the above, I then highlighted the image layer ready for the next stage. Clicking on Image in the main menu heading bar, scrolling down to Adjustments and then in the sub-window to Black & White option a new window opens (fig.5), this option is where I would be able to alter the image colour from mono to sepia by clicking the Tint button and using just Hue and Saturation scroll bars to alter the colour, after looking at various options I decided on a selection of Hue 20° and Saturation of 12% (fig.6).

fig.5

fig.6

Each part of the above procedure would be followed and then applied to the other nine images individually, once this had been done for all of the images the final part of the process was to name the files and choose what format the images would be save in (fig.7).

fig.7

For this set of images I chose to save the files as JPGs, with JPGs the amount of compression can be adjusted, the trade-off is between storage file size and image quality, by using the scroll bar you can control the amount of compression - 1 being low quality and 12 giving very little perceptible loss in image quality, saving as JPGs would also make it easier for me to send the images to the printer later on due to the reduced file size (fig.8).

fig.8

The final part of the assignment will be to present the images together as a collection, this is going to be done as part of a printed portfolio presented at the end of the course. At the printing stage I will be looking at various types of paper stocks, I could choose a Hi-gloss paper very similar to photo paper or I might choice an uncoated stock “very arty” each type of paper will have an effect on the final images and how it looks to the viewer, the options are many and might be dictated by cost and available time.

An alternative way to present the final images could be to use an online gallery sources such as Flickr or Blogger, with both of these options the gallery would be ready to view worldwide as soon as the images had been uploaded and published for the public to view, this option would be very cost effective as it is free to most users at the moment, to support this option an email link could be mailed out to world wide contacts informing them of your new online image gallery.

Hommage to Adrian Gray - personal

Adrian Gray doing what he does best

During my trip to Dorset this year I watched a photographer with a difference, Adrian Gray balances large boulders on top of each other (without the use of bluecoats) in various locations throughout Dorset and beyond. He then photographs the results, these images are truly amazing and well worth a perusal each chosen image is then sold as limited print.

Whilst on a deserted beach one morning I came across a few house bricks that had been worn down by the sea, the image you see is my homage to Adrian Gray, after trying to balance real boulders and failing to do it even once, this picture is the nearest I will ever get to following in his balancing footsteps.

Ass 207 - Mono compare

One of the images that particularly inspired me during this assignment was this picture taken by Jane Bown of Orson Wells, the way the light has been reduced to only highlight the face and the way in which it has been cropped was most interesting, the one part of the process I could not follow exactly in the studio was to use natural light, but I would have a go.

During my photoshoot I used just a single light source on Ian, my model for the day. What I was trying to do during this session was to capture an engaging expression and also a strong contrast between each side of the face, by moving the light forward, backwards and sideways altered the overall feel and look of the image, in the post production stage I darkened one side of the face the producing an image in the style of Jane Bown, the lip of the chair has been left which just adds a small amount of detail in the background.

In both pictures the sitter is looking directly at the viewer engaging with them directly, the colour balance is from white through shades of grey to solid black.

Flick football - personal

keep your eye on the ball...

One of my ideas for this shoot was to try and capture the movement of the small subbuteo players as they moved towards the ball, to do this I set up 4 players - 3 blue, one red stripe and a ball, then I would flick a 2nd stripe towards the ball to try and capture the movement in the shot.

For this to work I needed to balance the shutter speed, f-stop and the flick speed of the player, after trying this a number of times it soon became apparent that getting the correct flick speed to work with set shutter speed, would be the hardest part, flick and click.

Eventually after a time in the studio I had a set of shots which I thought would be useable, after making a selection of my prefered shots I decided to montage 3 of the shots together in Photoshop using part of each image  with layers and layer mask options, this would hopefully give me the movement I was looking for...

Adam Lawrence photographer

Adam Lawrence gained a degree in Applied Photography, Film and Television from Harrow College of Higher Education, following the degree course he decided to go traveling for a couple of years, during this trip he compiled a portfolio of travel images which would help to give him his first break in the creative industry, his first job was to take production photos of Oliver at a fringe theatre Islington and from that first job he hasn’t looked back.

Over the years Adam has built up an international client list including MTV, 3 Mobile the BBC and many more, his quirky portraiture style works extremely well with the musicians, comedians and movie stars, his way of working often acting as the studio clown seems to bring out the best of the sitter and time after time leads to some very interesting shoots.

I really like the way this portrait has been taken and the way in which Goks personality seems to shine out from the picture, the contrast between his clothing and the bright white background seems to amplify his facial features and the way in which the body has been positioned adds to the overall composition.

This portraiture shot of Rick Wakeman a world famous musicians is taken slightly from underneath, similar to the view point of a piano keyboard, the eyes are starring down towards the viewer and the left hand is poised just above the imaginary keys, his right hand supports his chin with a slightly bored look. His left hand seems to be floating and is slightly abstract due to the disproportionate size, I think that a wide-angle lens might have been used to capture this style of image.

This main focus of this picture is Peter Schmeichel hands, the tools of his trade, international goalkeeper and football pundit, the use of a wide-angle lens helps to create this quirky shot putting Peters right hand virtually in the viewers face. Peter is crouching down with his hands stretched  out towards the , the image has been produced as a black and white shot and in the post production stage the background has been cleaned-up to a pure bright white background.

I am not sure if this image is comical or one that is making a statement about old age, the whole image is taken using only shades of white apart from the single red jewelry stone and the slapdash applied lipstick, the facial features are very dramatic and intense and combined with the way in which the lipstick has been applied the image for me is very disturbing, the image also has a bleached out feel which adds to the overall composition.

Ass 207 - Mono gallery

These are the selected images which have been processed and cropped to size within Photoshop.

Dorset deckchairs - personal

When I was taking these pictures I found myself drawn to the deckchairs on a very quiet promenade, the way in which the gusts of wind were picking up the seat material, creating movement and the angles formed by the wooden frames made for an interesting composition.

Beach breakers - personal

From my beach walks in Dorset I have taken a few shots of the sea breakers, for this small series of shots I have focused in on the stones that have been trapped, in the post production stage I have cropped the images square and also tried to work in proportions of thirds...

Ass 207 - Task 1b - Mono portraiture

Intentions/purpose of the photography to be undertaken :-

For this next task I am going to try and take a series of mono portraiture shots. During this photographic shoot I will manly focus on the head and shoulders keeping to a tight image crop and always trying to capture some part of the sitters personality, as with all photography sessions any opportunity that arises to capture a slightly different picture in composition, style or just a twinkle in the eye should/will be taken and can always be used or delated later on.

Reasons for selection of theme (including inspiration from the work of others) :-

I feel that the medium of black and white photography seems to work extremely well for portraiture shoots, by striping away the colour from the image the sitters personality seems to be amplified and comes across even stronger. By only working in mono for this session I will have to think harder about how the lighting will effect the sitters facial features and clothing textures “no more hiding behind colour” the use of strong or soft light will make a big difference to the final image form and composition, I will also have to think about the background colour shade and how this will impact on my final images.

One source of inspiration for this assignment has been the images of Jane Bown, time after time she seems to be able to capture the personality of each individual sitter, only ever working in black and white and just using the natural available light.


The photo imaging equipment and medium that will be used and why :-

For this studio session I will be using my Canon 500D camera with a shutter release cable and a hotshoe adapter linking the camera to the studio light, I will use only one lens my Canon 18-55mm. Also during the shoot I will use a single Barn Door light, by using the reflectors to control the direction of the light I will have a better and tighter control of light and how it falls on to the model, this also has the advantage of keeping light away from the background.

Techniques that will be used and how they will help convey the visual message :-

For this photographic session I will be moving the light source to alter the way in which the light falls across the sitters face, which I hope will alter the look and feel of the images, I will also move the position of camera from time to time to try and capture different viewpoints.


Once I had discussed and it had been agreed with the tutor we set-up a black Colorama background in the studio, I wanted to keep the background as dark as possible for this shoot so a black background was always going to be the prefered choice, a single Barn Door light source was used to illuminate the sitter, by using the reflecters I was able to control the light direction and strength alowing me full flexibility to alter the feel and contrast of the shot at any time.

During the original discussion it was decided to capture the images in colour, then at a later date when I was ready to process the shots I would only convert the chosen pictures in to black and white. During the photographic shoot I focused mainly on the head and shoulders, trying to keep a tight crop at all times, quick discussions with the model before and during the session provided an understanding about what I hoped to capture.

A few test shots were taken to make sure that the position of the light and camera were okay, I also checked the shutter speed, F-stop and ISO readings, these settings were altered and tweaked to work with the flash and give me the right amount of contrast within the image. The camera was positioned level with the model’s head making use of the studio tripod, during the photographic shoot the camera was moved around to alter the image composition, at the end of the session just under 100 images were taken.

Contact sheet of the chosen images

Once I had downloaded the images from my camera I was able to take a closer look at each one individually, all of the images were imported into Lightroom where I would be able to take a closer look at each image individual, once I started the selection process I graded the images to help narrow down my choice, the chosen images would have to meet with the following requirements; good focus on the face, balanced lighting, good posture and composition.

lightroom windows

As I viewed each image I attributed a score from 1 to 4 (4 being my prefered top choice) after my first perusal I reviewed the images once again and eventually selected just 27 images, these images were exported from Lightroom into a new folder ready for opening in Photoshop, during this next stage I would produce a contact sheet which would help me to reduce my selection further to a final choice of 10 images, these selected images would be processed and converted to black and white.

To convert a colour image to Black & White in Photoshop there are quite a few different ways for this task to be completed, the quickest and simplest way to convert the image is to change the colour mode to Greyscale (fig 1.), the Mode menu can be found on the header bar under the Image heading, once the image has been converted to mono it can be worked on further in Photoshop by using various filters, layers and any number of combinations.

The second option (fig 2.) is to use the Chanel Mixer, this is found under Adjustments, under the Image header. With this option you click the Monochrome button first and then you use the RGB slide bars to control the look of the image, the source chanels should make up a total score of 100 for the best result, once you are happy with your image you click OK and a chanel mixer layer is located above the original image, this way of working alows you to retain the colour image within the psd file.

For the third way to convert (fig 3.) you could use the Black and White layer option, this option is also found under the Adjustments and it automatically converts the image to mono, this provides you with 6 slide bars to alter the image and gives you good control on the final output, also with this option you also have some saved Prests which can be used as a starting point to manipulate the image. The final tool within this option is the Tint tool, by using this option you can convert the image to a single colour image.

Black and White layer option window

Each one of the above options will work well in converting the chosen images to black and white.

Safety considerations:-

All health and safety guidelines will be observed once the studio has been entered,I will familiarise myself and model with the fire evacuation routes from the studio. I will always keep the door clear of all obstruction, we need to find out the contact name and number of the first aider before starting work in the studio and report immediately any accident or near miss to the tutor and in general act responsible at all times and look after and tidy up all the equipment once used.

One of the images form the mono gallery